Traditional public school supporters expressed their disappointment Thursday when Gov. Rick Scott signed a controversial education bill into law, and Superintendent Greg Adkins was among them.

The Lee County schools' chief took to video to give his remarks on the bill becoming law.

“I am, of course, disappointed with the passing of House Bill 7069,” he began. “It is legislation that has a major impact on our public education system, yet neither educators, nor the public, were ever given the opportunity for input.”

Although the bill includes some positive changes, like kids being able to use sunscreen at school without a prescription, some test reform, and the expansion of recess time for elementary students, the document also calls for big changes in how public schools can use federal Title I money.

It also shows great favoritism toward charter schools, including not making them abide by the extended recess time, while diverting more tax dollars away from traditional schools toward charter systems.

For Lee County, this could mean a loss of $45 million in construction funds during the next five years — a harsh reality for the district that needs to build nine schools to address overcrowded schools and a growing student population.

He made this remark last week, during a press conference where he asked the governor to veto the 274-page document.

Superintendent Greg Adkins, shown at the podium, publicly demanded that Gov. Rick Scott veto House Bill 7069 this week because he believes it will fail public schools, students, teachers and programs.(Photo: News-Press photo by Pamela McCabe)

Adkins told his listeners Thursday that the district’s advocacy efforts will continue, and he hopes staff, parents and community members will continue to stand with the school system.

“With your help, we will continue to fight to give our students what they deserve — a world-class educational system." he said. "It’s what they’re entitled to, and we will not fail them.”

Students can earn scholarships

Students who are interested in being entrepreneurs will compete for college scholarships during a camp that is set to begin Monday.

CEO Academy is a week long and is designed to teach students how to start and operate a business. The camp will be held at Florida Gulf Coast University's Emergent Technologies Institute.

The camp's participants will split off into teams and develop business plans with the help of entrepreneurs, FGCU professors and others. The two teams with the best plans will be awarded college scholarships.

CEO Academy is open to high school juniors and seniors from Charlotte, Collier and Lee counties.

Lee’s school foundation gets $15K grant

The money was awarded by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, and will help support workshops, student advocacy, mentoring and the FutureMakers program.

Marshall Bower is president and CEO of The Foundation for Lee County Public Schools.(Photo: File)

“Bank of America has been a long-time supporter and partner of the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools in our efforts to enhance and enrich the public school experience for our students and educators,” offered Marshall Bower, the president & CEO of the foundation. “Specifically, the support we receive from Bank of America regarding our college and career initiatives is indicative of their keen understanding that a sound education is the cornerstone of a robust and healthy economy.”

Lee TV interns win four regional 'Student Emmys'

Known as “Student Emmys,” the regional awards for the Suncoast are given out to students from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

Lee TV interns, who work in the communications department with the Lee County school district, have won four regional "student Emmys." The awards are really called the Suncoast Television Awards of Excellence from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.(Photo: Lee County Public Schools, leeschools.net)

The winners are:

Marissa Giambalvo in the sports category for “More Effort, More Wins”

Vince Marcucci in the audio/sound and editor categories for “Welcome Back to School”

Paige Renyhart in the writing category for “Happy Radio”

Next, these students will go on to compete for the National Student Production Awards. This won’t be announced until October.

Lee TV interns have won 33 regional awards since 2010, and earned a National Student Emmy in light news features last year, the district reported.

Honorable mentions were given for four other videos. The students honored were Macey Callans, Rahmah Alamoudi, Eric Martinez, Marcucci and Renyhart.